Free Doctor Who: Dragonfire by Ian Briggs Page A

stopped dead in her tracks.
    'What's the matter?'
    'Shh!'
    Mel stopped as well.
    'Did you hear that?' whispered Ace.
    Mel looked round nervously. 'Hear what?'
    Ace peered back into the darkness behind them. 'I'm sure I heard something behind us.'
    Mel shivered. 'What kind of something?'
    'I don't know. Can you see anything?' Ace turned to look into the darkness ahead of them. As she did so, one of the dead-faced crewmen lurched out of one of the side passages behind them. Mel saw it with horror.
     
    'Look out!' she shrieked.
    Ace turned to see the huge abomination. Then another one emerged.
    Then another one. 'Gordon Bennett!'
    Still more crewmen emerged. Mel screamed, but the zombies appeared not to hear. They staggered on down the passage towards Mel and Ace, with murder in their eyes.
    Ace looked round wildly. The only escape was forward down the passage. 'Come on, Mel - run!' She pulled Mel's arm, and they both raced off into the dark. The crewmen and women stumbled after them.
    Mel and Ace scrambled over the ice boulders as fast as they could.
    Behind them, they could hear their pursuers striding over the ice like unstoppable giants. 'They're still behind us! We can't get away!' cried Mel.
    Ace felt down to her belt. 'Let's see if they want to argue with a can of deodorant that registers nine on the Richter scale!' But the canisters of nitro were missing. 'The nitro! You've got the nitro, Mel! Throw it!'
    The two canisters of nitro were secure in Mel's belt. She pulled them out, and turned back to face the huge crewmen and women. 'Right -
    cover your ears!' She pulled the nozzle off one of the cans, as she'd seen Ace do in the Upper Docking Bays, then she tossed it down the passage.
    It bounced on the ground and came to rest. The crewmen and women strode towards it with dead faces.
     
    The explosion rocked the passage, and the blast of air knocked Mel and Ace to the ground. Ace's eyes lit up with excitement. 'Mega!' she cried in a whoop of delight. 'Go on, Doughnut - throw the other one!'
    Mel was really getting the feel of this now. She pulled the nozzle of the second can off with her teeth, like she'd seen them do with hand grenades in old war movies, and with a broad smile she lobbed it after the first. There was a second huge explosion, which knocked the two women backwards. 'Yeah! Go for it, Doughnut!' shrieked Ace, flat on her back. She rolled onto her side and looked down the passage.
    Amidst a cloud of dust, the crewmen and women were lying buried beneath a mound of ice boulders. Smiling, Ace turned to Mel. 'That was well brill!'
    Mel was looking down the passage. 'I don't think we're safe yet.' Ace turned to look.
    Back down the passage, the crewmen and women were beginning to stir beneath the rubble. Ace couldn't believe it. 'They can't be. Not after two cans of nitro. Throw the rest, Mel! Throw everything!'
    "There's none left! That's all there was.'
    'Come on, then - let's shift!'
    They scrambled to their feet and ran.
    The ice was slippery beneath their feet, and they kept crashing to the ground, picking themselves up again, and hurling themselves forward once more. Always they heard the steady crunch of feet following behind, never dropping any further into the distance. Mel turned briefly to see where their pursuers were. As she did so, her feet flew away from under her, and her head smashed against the side wall. She didn't feel any pain. She just saw everything disappear into black - and then nothing...
    Ace quickly realised that Mel was no longer running alongside her. She stopped and looked back, and saw Mel lying inert on the ground.
    'Doughnut!' She ran back to Mel and dropped down beside her. Blood was running down the side of Mel's head, but she was still breathing.
    'Come on! Wake up!' Ace shook Mel. 'Come onV The monotonous crunch of heavy footsteps grew closer in the darkness further up the passage.
    Ace looked round in desperation. There were no side passages to hide down - just forwards and